Yet Sony has had the good fortune of seeing nary a lawsuit from Apple. Part of that could be written off to the company's relatively small share of the overall big Android pie. It's true that Apple primarily targeted the world's top three Android smartphone makers -- Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (KS:005930), HTC Corp. (TPE:2498), and Google Inc. (GOOG) subsidiary Motorola Mobility -- a group that Sony did not have the distinction of being part of.

But then there's the fact that Microsoft doesn't even mention Sony in its recent diagram of who it's suing and who it's cutting licensing deals with.

Look, no Sony! [Source: Microsoft]

Given that Sony's been on the market for some time now with Android product, the message seems clear -- Sony, for whatever reason, doesn't have to license from Microsoft.

Sony might not have won the Android market over quite yet with its slick designs, but with other manufacturers paying Microsoft as much as $15 USD per handset and seeing their devices banned from sales in some regions, IP-strong Sony could be poised to rise up the ranks in global sales -- assuming it can generate enough compelling product.